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SMITIISONLVX DIM'OSIT. 



M E M E I A L 



ROGER WILLIAMS. 



Cooke & Daxielsox, Pkixters, Providence, 



MEMORIAL 

OF 

ROGEK WILLIAMS 



Paper read before the Rhode Island Historical So- 
ciety, Wky 18, 1860, 

BY 7.ACHARIAH ALLEN, ESQ. 



Were the characters of n;reat and good men always esti- 
mated by the honors bestowed upon them by their neigh- 
bors, very few would be deemed excellent. At the present 
day, as in the olden time, a prophet might receive honors 
everywhere save in his own country. This has been the 
case in regard to Roger Williams, the champion of *' Soul- 
liberty," and the first theologian on this earth who ever 
theoretically advocated the separation of " Church and 
Sbite,'" and the first statesman who practically established 
religious freedom as the constitutional basis of civil govern- 
ment. 

So many years have been allowed to pass away during the 
discussion of the question of erecting a monument over the 
grave of Roger "Williams, — the founder of the State of 
Rhode Lsland, that the very locality of it is forgotten. To 
discover the spot where have rested his neglected ashes for 
nearly two centuries, recourse must now be had to tradi- 
tionary testimony, which is fast disappearing. No time is 
to be lost in recording what may now i-emaiu available ; for 
the memory of the aged serves to illustrate the fading events 
of history, as the lingering rays of departing day afford a 
last glimpse of the outlines of a glimmei'iug landscape. 



1_\^1 



Since the recent researches for tlie discover}- of the p^rave 
of Iloger Willjnms, the question is frcqiieutlj- asked, What 
are the proofs found to establish the identit3-"of it ? 

To dispel any doubts which may exist in the minds of his 
descendants, as well as of the people of Khode Island, who 
now manifest an interest in honoring the memory of the 
Founder of their State by the erection of a permanent mon- 
ument over liis ashes, tlie writer of this memorial has been 
indaced to make researches to identify the place of his sep- 
ulture. Born within a few yards of the spring, by the side 
of which iloger Williams lived and died, and liaving from 
early youth felt a lively interest in the history of his suffer- 
ings, and of his beneficent labors for the welfare of man- 
kind, the writer has made himself fiimiliar with this spot, 
and with the local traditions connected therewith, for more 
than half a century. 

Historical records state that the death of Roger Williams 
occurred in the year 1683, and that he was buried \nth mar- 
tial honors. The smoke of the musketry, temporarily hov- 
ering in the air over his grave, formed as permanent a mark 
of respect as was ever bestowed to honor it. Not even a 
rough stone was set up to designate the spot. 

Nearly ninety years after his death, (in 1771) it is record- 
ed that a special committee was appointed by the freemen of 
the town of Providence to a'^certain the spot where he was 
buried, and to draft an inscription for a monument, which 
it was then voted to erect '• over the grave of the Founder 
of this Town and Colony." One of tliis committee, Gover- 
nor Sessions, stated to Bis neighbor. Governor Allen, that 
the committee had satisfactory knowledge of the locality of 
his family burial-ground, east of Benefit sti-eet. where the 
explorations for the gi'ave have recently been made : but the 
troubles of the revolutionary war. which ensued, prevented 
any active exertions for ascertaining the exact spot, and for 
erecting thereon the proposed monument. 

Mr. Moses Brown, previovis to his death in the year 1803, 
at the age of 98 years, was called upon by the writer for the 
special purpose of obtaining information on the suV)ject in 
question Mr. Bro^vn stated that the above described burial 
lot had always been considered as that of the family of 
Roger Williams, but t'aat his grave was unknown. He also 
stated that a large burial ground of the early settlers of the 
Providence Plantations had existed on the south side of 
Bowen street, near Benefit street ; so called from its having 



been liiid out for the conr.uou benefit of accc.-;s to the rear of 
the garden lots of tiie original proprietors. 

It appears that the first settlers of Providence laid out 
their lots with a frontage on King's street, the present North 
and South Main streets, from Harrington's Lane to Wicken- 
den street, and extending back to Hope street, each lot com- 
prising about six acres. The lots on the west side of North 
and South Main streets were reserved for warehouses and 
wliarves, generall}^ comprising two lots of fortj' feet each, 
with a gangway on each side for access to the salt water. 
There were great tracts of w^oodland re;-erved for the com- 
mon benefit of the original proprietors, designated as "stated 
commons," and located in the country west and north of 
the above described lots, which were called "plantations." 
Hence the name of '' Providence Plantation.^ " has been re- 
tained to this day as the name of this State in connection 
with that of the colony settled on the adjacent island of 
Rhode Island. 

The house of Roger AVilliams was situated on his planta- 
tion on the east side of North Main street. The spring 
known by his mime was not on his plantation lot, being on 
. the westerly side of the street, in the range of warehouse 
lots reserved by him in partnei-ship with the other original 
proprietors. This spring, within the memory of the writer, 
was nearly level with the surface of the adjacent ground, 
welling forth its gushing waters through a short drain into 
a cask set in the ground for the use of cattle, thence con- 
tinuing its flow to the river side. The sight of this living 
spring finally attracted Roger Williams to turn the bow of 
his canoe to land at this inviting spot, after navigating it 
around Fox Point. 

It was the custom of the eai'ly settlers of the Providence 
Plantations, as it still continues to be of their descendants 
in the country towns adjacent thereto, to appropriate a por- 
tion of their respective farms for a fiimily burial place. In 
accordance with this custom, Iloger \Mlliams selected a por- 
tion of his plantation for the place of his sepulture 

The preceding statements establish the locality of the 
family burial ground of Roger Williams. 'I'he identification 
of his graA'e rests upon more slender, but still reliable evi- 
dence. 

A communication from an anonymous writer, published 
in a newspaper printed in Providence, July 17, 1819, called 
the Rhode Island American, and re-printed in Knowles' 



Memoir of Koger Vrilliams, (page 432,) contains the follow- 
ing ''statement of facts communicated by the late Capt. 
Nathaniel Packard, about the year 1808" : 

" When Capt. Packard was about ten years old, one of the 
descendants of Roger Williams was buried at the family 
burial ground on the lot right back of the house of Sullivan 
Dorr, Esq. Those who dug the grave, dtig directly upon 
the foot of a coffin, which the people there present told him 
was that of Koger Williams. They let him down into the 
new grave, and he saw the bones in the coffin, which was 
not wholly decayed — and the bones had a long mossy sub - 
stance iipon them." 

This testimony, although without the authority of a sig- 
nature, has been corroborated by the more direct and au- 
thentic testimony given by the daughter of Capt. Packard 
to Dr. Usher Parsons, as stated in his letter written in re- 
ply to inquiries addressed to him on that subject : 

" Providence, April 18th, 1860. 

Z. Allen, Esq. — My Dear Sir: — I was informed some 
five years ago bj' the late Polly Packard, then more than 
eighty years old, that she had in childhood often visited the, 
grave of Roger WilUams in company with her father, who, 
in early boyhood, had been put into the grave next to it by 
his father. The facts in the case were these. ^Villiams's 
grave had been levelled many years with the surrounding 
gx'eensward, and its exact locality lost. In digging another 
grave for a new interment, the spade man came upon the 
bones of Williams, being portions of his lower extremities. 
Many of the inhabitants gathered to see the bones of the 
founder of Rhode Island, and her grand-father among them; 
who, actuated by a singular whim, lowered his little son, 
her father, into the grave, probably thinking that the act 
would make an indelible impression of this discovery upon 
his SOU'S memory. In process of time, and after she and 
her sisters had more than once visited the spot with their 
father, the ground became levelled, and the grave had dis- 
appeared. 

But Miss Packard seemed confident that she could indi- 
cate the exact spot from its bearing and distance from ano- 
ther grave marked by a broken head-stone. 

I requested her to accompany me to the ground, and the 
spot she then indicated was exactly where Mr. S. Randall, a 
descendant of Williams, supposed it to be, from informa- 



tion derived from other sources ; and where, on digging a 
few days since, he found some relics of an early interment. 
Yours truly, 

Usher Parsons." 

This direct testimony from family tradition appears to be 
conclusive evidence of the locality of the grave of Roger 
Williams. Having been a frequent visitor to this spot and 
familiarly acquainted with all the traditions relating thereto, 
the writer's earliest recollections are associated with the ex- 
citement caused among his playmates by the breaking of a 
gi-ave stone, by a colored bey, who had amused himself by 
rolling small boulders down the steep decUvity of the hill- 
side, directed against this grave stone with the mischievous 
design of knocking it over hke one of a set of nine-pins. 
This he succeeded in doing, and the fi-agments of the top of 
it remained a long time on the spot. On their disappear- 
ance, Mr. Dorr, the proprietor of the orchard, caused the 
lower half, still retaining its erect position, to be removed to 
a store-house for the purpose of preserving it. 

At that time there were a few pointed fragments of rough 
stone projecting just above the greensward, which were evi- 
dently placed there as rude monuments to mark some 
graves. Mr. Theodore Foster states in his letter to Mr. Wil- 
liams Thayer, Jr., dated May 21st, 1819, in reply to inqui- 
ries about his ancestor's death and burial, (Kuowles's His- 
tory of Koger Williams, page 480,) that when he lirst saw 
the spot, " the foot grave stone was gone, and the top of the 
other broken off, so that only the lower part appeared with- 
out any inscription."' It is manifest that had there been a 
stone at the head of the grave of Roger ^Villiams when one 
of his descendants was buried, as narrated by Capt Pack- 
ard, the digging in such close proximity to it would have 
been carefully avoided. Probably Mr. Foster made a mis- 
take in this "statement, as he did also in another statement 
contained in the same letter, relating that " Mr. Williams 
sold from his estate a lot on the main street to Mr. Gabriel 
Bernon, a very respectable French gentleman of great pro- 
perty and sincere religion, who came from Ilochelle, France, 
where he had suffered much and been imprisoned two years 
on account of his religion ; which led Mr. Williams to es- 
teem and respect hun." The deed of the lot referred to by 
Mr. Foster as having been given by I\Ir. Williams to Gabriel 
Eernon, (the grandfather of the MTiter,) has been examined 



and proves to have been received from the committee of the 
original proprietors of the colon}-, and contains the convey- 
ance of the lot in which the spring is situated. Gabriel 
Bernon was one of the Hugenots who fled from France at 
the revolution of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, being two 
years after the death of Roger "Williams, thus conclusively 
sho»ving Mr. Foster's mistakes. 

On the fragment of the grave stone still preserved is a 
part of the inscription, exhibiting the last letter of a name 

terminating with n, probably that of Ashton, which 

family was connected by marriage with that of lioger AFil- 
liams. 

The remaining inscription records : 

" , who departed this hfe ye — May, 1739, 63 years 

her age." 

This date confirms the statement of Capt. Packard, that 
•' he was about ten years old when he was let down into the 
new grave and saw the bones, &c. He was born in 1730, 
and this inscription bears date 1739. 

The follo^ving details of the disinterment of the remains 
contained in the seven graves of this little family burial lot, 
will be interesting as a historical record of the noble effort 
recently made by Mr. Stephen KandaU to rescue the charac- 
ter of the descendants of Roger WiUiams, as well as of the 
people of the State of Rhode Island, from the imputation of 
a want of reverence for the memory of the Founder of their 
State. 

After the lapse of 177 years of oblivious neglect, the re- 
searches for the identification of the grave were finally com- 
menced on the 22d day of March, 1860, in the presence of 
several gentlemen, who were invited to witness the processes 
of the disinterment. The assistance of two experienced su- 
perintendents of the public Burial Grounds was obtained to 
direct carefully the researches. Pointed iron rods were pro- 
cured for piercing through the greensward, to ascertain 
where the texture of the subsoil might be rendered loose by 
former excavations, and suitable boxes were prepared to re- 
ceive the exhumed remains. 

The first preliminary operation was the stripping off the 
turf from the surface of the ground occupied by the gi-aves, 
all comprised within less than one square rod. The green- 
sward covering the sloping hUlside presented to view a near- 
ly uniform sm'face. After the removal of the turf and 
loam, down to the hard surface of the subsoil, the outlines 



of seven graves became manifest, the three uppermost on 
the hillside being those of children, and the four lower ones, 
those* of adults. 

It was immediately discovered that two of the latter ad- 
joined each other, thus manifestly showing, in accordance 
with the testimony of Captain Packard, that when the last 
one of the two was dug, the end of the coffin contained in 
the other must have been laid open to view. This proximity 
is delineated on the plat of the land which Mr. Randall has 
caused to be made to exhibit the relative positions of the 
graves. 

The easterly grave was evidently the most recent, as the 
exact shape of the coffin was visible by a carbonaceous black 
streak of the thickness of the edge of the sides of the coffin, 
with the ends distinctly defined. The rusted remains of the 
hinges and nails were found in their places, with some rot- 
ten fragments of wood, and a single round knot. The nails 
are of wrought iron, with the heads flattened edgewise to 
resemble brad heads. This was done to permit the heads to 
penetrate deep into the wood and out of sight in the finished 
coffin. 

The utmost care was taken in scraping away the earth 
fi'om the bottom of the grave of Roger Williams. Not a 
vestige of any bone was discoverable, nor even of the lime 
dust which usually remains after the gelatinous part of the 
bone is decomposed. So completely had disappeared all the 
earthly remains of the Founder of the State of Rhode Isl- 
and, in the commingled mass of black, crumbled slate stone 
and shale, that they did not ''leave a wreck behind." By 
chemical laws, we learn that all flesh, and the gelatinous 
matter giving consistency to the bones, become finally re- 
solved into carbonic acid gas, water and air, but the solid 
lime dust of the decomposed bones was here doubtlessly ab- 
sorbed by roots or commingled with the earth in the bottom 
of the grave, being literally the " ashes of the dead."' This 
is all that remained to be deposited in the cinerary urns, 
which in classic days were used for receiving the residue of 
the human body after being burnt in the brick furnaces 
tliat once formed an important appendage to eveiy cemetery. 

By the side of the grave of tloger Williams was another, 
which was supposed to be that of his wife ; for wondei'fully 
preserved therein was found a lock of braided hair, being 
the sole remaining human relic. All else had disappeared 
in the lapse of more than 170 ^eai's, during whicli this tress 



of hair had sui-vived every other portion of the body equally 
exposed to the wet earth. 

The reason for which this location had been so soon aban- 
doned as a burial spot became evident in the almost impene- 
trable hardness of the soil, composed of shale, which ren- 
dered necessary the use of steel-pointed bars and picks to 
penetrate it. So near the surf ice of ground is the substra- 
tum of shale rock, which constitutes nearly the whole mass 
of Prospect Hill, that water was found percolating the soil 
at the bottom of one of the excavations which were made. 

It appears that in this vicinit}-, on the gravelly soil a few 
hundred feet below on the hill side, the Indians once had a 
cemetery. At the foot of Boweu street, skeletons, with the 
remains of Indian implements, and a copper kettle, were 
found. Many of tiie early settlers of Providence were there 
buried. 

Along the whole range of Benefit street were a succession 
of orchards planted on the hill-side, above the garden lots. 
In these orchards were the burial lots of the families which 
occupied the homes below on the east side of North and 
South Main streets, commencing with the burial lot of the 
family of Whipple, at the junction of Constitution Hill 
with Benefit street ; next was that of Roger 'niUams's fam- 
ily — of Olney, Waterman, Crawford, Tilhnghast, Cooke, 
Ash ton, and others. In the course of modern improvements, 
most of these remains have been removed to the North 
Burial Ground. Near Bowen street, whilst cultivating a 
garden, Nicholas Esteu pulled up the fragments of a human 
skull, attached to the roots of a cabbage. 

A similar and very remarkable exhibition of the powers of 
vegetable life in active pursuit of appropriate nourishing 
food, even in the depths of a human grave, constituted one 
of the most interesting phenomena in a philosophical point 
of view, disclosed during the researches that have been de- 
scribed, serving to show that nothing useful as food for 
plants is wastefuUy lost in the economy of nature, and that 
even our very graves are ransacked by rambling roots, as 
well as by the crawling worms, that convert every charnel 
house into a banqueting hall. 

On looking down into the pit whilst the sextons were clear- 
ing it of earth, the root of an adjacent apple tree was dis- 
covered. This tree had pushed downwards one of its main 
roots in a sloping direction and nearly straight course 
towards the precise spot that had been occupied by the skull 



of Roger Williams. There making a turn conforming with 
its circumference, the root followed the direction of the 
back bone to the hips, and thence divided into two branches, 
each one following a leg bone to the heel, where they both 
turned upwards to the extremities of the toes of the skele- 
ton. One of the roots formed a slight crook at the part oc- 
cupied by the knee joint, thus producing an increased re- 
semblance to the outlines of the skeleton of Roger Williams, 
as if, indeed, moulded thereto by the powers of vegetable 
life. This singularly formed root has been carefully pre- 
served, as constituting a verj' impressive exemplification of 
the mode in which the contents of the grave had been en- 
tirely absorbed. Apparently' not sated with banqueting on 
the remains found in one grave, the same roots extended 
themselves into the next adjoining one, pervading every 
part of it with a net-work of voracious fibres in their 
thorough search for everj' particle of nutritious matter in 
the form of phosphate of hme and other organic elements 
constituting the bones. At the time the apple tree was 
planted, all the fleshy parts of the body had doubtlessly 
been decomposed and dispersed in gaseous forms ; and there 
was then left only enough of the principal bones to serve for 
the roots to follow along from one extremity of the skeleton 
to the other in a continuous course, to glean up the scanty 
remains. Had there been other organic matter present in 
quantity, tiiere would have been found divergent branches 
of roots to envelope and absorb it. This may serve to ex- 
plain the singular formation of the roots into the shape of 
the principal bones of the human skeleton. These disclo- 
sures are corroborated by tlie artificial use of bones as a 
manure in practical agriculture. 

Similar instances have been noticed in excavating to re- 
move the remains of liuman bodies from old burial grounds, 
to reach M'hich the roots of trees have been found extended 
in nearly a direct Une to very considerable distances. The 
roots of a willow tree have been discovered to have pene- 
trated beneath the foundation walls of an ancient church in 
this city, and through the dry earth beneath the floor to 
lap their fibrous tissues around the skulls and bones buried 
there. They were silently absorbing into the circulations 
of the sap vessels the remains of the bodies, as in the in- 
stance which has been described. 

The question is often asked, how can a tree or plant push 
out their roots in such direct lines to reach distant deposits 



10 



of their appropriate food, Unless they are endued with some 
kind of instinctive knowledge to guide them ? This suppo- 
sition of the endowment of plants -svithanj- suoh instinctive 
intelligence is rendered unnecessary, if it be considered that 
the gases issuing from decomposing organic bodies buried in 
the earth, permeate porous soil, and reach the distant 
fibrous roots. By contact with them, the percolating stream 
of gases becomes consolidated into woody fibres at the near- 
est point of contact in a direct line between the lOOt and the 
decomposing body, forming continuous accretions at the 
elongating end of the root, uutil it becomes connected by 
contact with the source of its nutritious food. This is the 
natural result of the movement of the gas toward the root 
of the tree, and not of the movement of the root to reach 
its food, as appearances might seem to incUcate. 

These researches for the discovery of the grave of Roger 
Williams have led to these developments of several interest- 
ing facts, showing the actual transmutations of the organic 
matter constituting the human body. A portion of it ap- 
pears to have been revived into the wood of the trunk and 
bn\nches of an apple tree, constituting fuel capable of giv- 
ing motion to the mechanism of a locomotive engine if burnt 
in the boiler ; and into the fruit capable of exciting move- 
ments of the mechanisms of animal bodies when used as 
food to be burnt in their lungs. Another portion of the 
less solid matter gives animation to the devouring worms, 
and the remainder ascends into the air in the foi'm of the 
gases which are absorbed by the leaves of plants. Tlie in- 
corporation of the lifeless elements of organic matter into 
the bodies, the gi-ains, and the fruits of plants, and the re- 
incorporation of the latter in the form of food into the bodies 
of hving animals, is unceasingly going on, thus continually 
reviving and quickening dead organic matter under the con- 
trol of ever-renewed life and intelligence. Under this view, 
the entire disappearance of every vestige of tiie mortal re- 
mains of Roger U'iUiams, teaches after his death an im- 
pressive les.son of the actual physical resurrection of them, 
by ever-acting natural causes, into renewed states of exist- 
ence constituting a physical victory over the grave, as his 
precepts and example, before his death, have taught the 
greater moral victory of the Christian faith over worldly op- 
pression. 

At the close of these careful excavations, and during the 
disappointment which ensued from finding only a parcel of 



11 



roots nestled into the place of tlie remains of the founder of 
the State of Rhode Island, all present turned to the inno- 
cent looking apple tree, as the thief that had stolen them 
away. There was no mistake, for it had been caught in the 
act of robbing a grave and of approin-iating the contents to 
its own vise, re-incorporating them into its living trunk and 
branches. The swollen buds showed that it was preparing 
to show off its spoils in a new suit of green leaves, with gay 
blossojns of many colors, as banners rejoicingly hung out. 
It was readily anticipated that it would soon incorporate a 
portion of these spoils into golden cheeked apples to tempt 
the owner of the orchard to participate in the fruits of this 
robbery. One of the gentlemen present, impressed with the 
suspicion that "the partaker is as bad as the thief,"' ex- 
claimed to the proprietor of the orchard, who was present — 
"It is siiificiently manifest why nothing is left of Roger 
Williams, for you have been eating him up in the shape of 
apples." 

The accused party admitted that appearances were against 
him, and suggested the question that, as his father had 
planted the tree and eaten most of the fruit, whether he 
might not himself be considered as one of the family off- 
spring of the old philanthropist? 

The people of Uhode Island have been long reproached for 
the want of due reverence for the fovmder of their State. 
To explain the cause of this neglect, without attempting to 
apologize for it, reference must be had tOjthe early history 
of the first settlers of New England. 

Extreme hardship and privations awaited all the emi- 
grants whn first adventured forth as pioneers to clear away 
primttval forests, and to battle with the native inhabitants 
for the possession of their hunting grounds. In these bat- 
tles the first settlers of Providence became involved, and 
their town was burnt in revenge for the wrongs committed 
on the Indians by the neighboring colonies. They had con- 
ti'.:ual struggles JTor obtaining daily food for the living, with 
no spare means for erecting monuments over the dead. The 
pioneer of the ancient forests deemed himself happy when 
he had succeeded in establishing his family in a log cabin, 
and in planting a few acres of corn among the huge stumps 
of trees. At his death, the neighbors gathered around his 
humble cabin, and bore away his body to a convenient cor- 
ner of the farm. No sculptor was there to record his name 
in brass or marble ; and the only mark of his solitary grave 



12 



was the little mound raised above the level of the adjacent 
green sward by the fresh addition of "' earth to earth, ashes 
to ashes."' On the widowed mother of orphan children then 
devolved, as an only heritage, increased toils with dimin- 
ished means of subsistence. 

That such was the condition of the family of Roger Wil- 
liams, is recorded in one of his touching letters describing 
the visit of his good friend, Gov. Winslow : " On departing, 
he sUpped a piece of gold into the hand of my wife, for the 
supply of my immediate necessities." 

Then, again, one of the prevalent sects of Christians in 
this colony — the Quakers, were conscientiously scrupulous 
about indulging in the worldly vanity of setting up a stone 
with a sculptured name to perpetuate the memory of a de- 
parted friend, deeming every such memorial of human affec- 
tions a wicked monument of human pride. 

These peculiar conditions of the state of society as it ex- 
isted during the period of the first settlement of the Provi- 
dence Plantations, have given an appearance of stoical indif- 
ference, and even of a want of decent regard for the memory 
of the dead. 

This reproach of neglect of the memory of Roger ^Vil- 
liauis will probably cease with the success of the efforts now 
making to raise a monument to honor his name. Ample 
means of wealth and luxury have followed in later days the 
early period of privations ; and the people of Rhode Island 
^vill now appear to be unworthy participants of the blessings 
of civil and religious Uberty, tf they continue longer to ne- 
glect to honor the great champion of human rights, who 
first on their favored soil estabUshed " soul liberty'" as the 
basis of civil government, and proposed the separation of 
" Church and State "' throughout the world. 




014 111 256 9 



